AECOsim Building Designer Quick Start Guide Chapter S01 Structural 2012 Bentley Systems, Incorporated www.bentley.com/aecosim
Table of Contents Structural...3 Structural Members and Forms... 3 Parts/Families and DataGroup Data... 4 Snaps, Tentative Snaps, and AccuSnaps... 4 The ACS... 4 The Floor Manager... 5 Icon Locks (Ctrl+Shift+I)... 8 the Interface... 9 Place Column... 10 Place Beam... 11 Place Slab... 12 www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 2 of 13 v2.0
STRUCTURAL Structural Engineers and Designers can quickly create a preliminary 3D physical model of the building structure using many of the structural placement tools found on the Structural Design task menu. The 3D physical model is important not only for coordination with the other discipline models, but it will also be used to create framing plans, sections and elevations, along with any necessary schedules and reports. These preliminary models can then be exported for analysis and eventually round tripped back into AECOsim Building Designer to update the physical model, and in turn the drawings and schedules. This chapter will give an overview of basic Structural Building Designer concepts that need to be understood to effectively create and modify designs. STRUCTURAL MEMBERS AND FORMS Structural Building Designer provides a variety of element types, called either members or forms, to use in constructing a 3D Structural model. There are steel section members based on standard structural sections selected at placement time, linear forms, arc forms, curve forms, slab forms, and free forms. A typical Structural Building Designer member element is created by dynamically placing linear segments, placing instances with defined lengths or by selecting a baseline element. Baseline elements are linear elements, arcs, and b-spline curves. During placement, a Structural Section is applied to the member being placed. Forms use the same linear and curved baseline elements to create walls. But for slabs, columns, or roof planes, shape elements are used. Intelligence of members and forms Structural Building Designer members are intelligent, accurately defined components of structural design, such as the structural steel supports and girders that make up the framework of a building. These members represent 3D model geometry, and are intelligent because they have Structural data assigned to them. Structural Building Designer can apply Structural data to forms created in Structural Building Designer or by any of the Building Designer applications. Placement Structural forms are placed by entering data points using AccuDraw, or by selecting element types from which members and forms are generated. Modification Structural forms and members are modifiable even after they are placed. Structural attributes and any definition assigned to a member or form can be updated or modified. Forms can be modified by connecting, applying cutbacks or modifying ends. Analytical data All Structural members are paired with a parallel analytical element at placement. The physical member and the analytical member coexist in the model, each having its own set of data which controls their appearance. In addition to the elements' appearance, the physical and analytical members' labeling and annotations are separate and user defined. Additional elements representing loads, moments, nodes, and constraints can be applied in the Analytical Model whose data is exported, in the correct format, to a variety of external analysis applications. Because analytical data is drawn at the same time as the physical members, it www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 3 of 13 v2.0
saves a tremendous amount of time and energy by not requiring recreation of models and data. The analytical data is manipulated separately from the physical members so that it makes sense to an analysis application. For example, intersections of beams may be drawn where the physical members do not intersect in the design because of support structures such as base plates and steel connections. But the analytical data is created to meet cleanly at the node. The external analysis application processes this information correctly and returns its analysis. PARTS/FAMILIES AND DATAGROUP DATA Structural Building Designer members are intelligent 3D models of accurately defined items of structural design. Structural Building Designer is delivered with predefined parts and part families; however, new parts and part families can easily be defined to suit any specific project needs. Part/Families data includes the default symbology definitions for Structural physical and analytical members used for both design and drawing environments. Part/Family data also includes Structural data, Structural attributes and user defined structural data used in analytical translation between Structural Building Designer and external analysis programs. The DataGroup System is a data schema utility common to all Building Designer applications. In Structural Building Designer, it manages extended Structural data and attributes as well as Part/Family data. It is integral to various Structural Building Designer functions including Analytical Translation and Automated Structural Drawings. SNAPS, TENTATIVE SNAPS, AND ACCUSNAPS Snaps and Tentative Snaps are covered in the AECOsimBD-000-Introduction to AECOsim Building Designer Core Functionality, but the structural tools also make use of Structural snaps. Structural Snaps Structural Building Designer provides Structural Snaps developed specifically for modeling and manipulating structural members. Using tentative snaps alone can be tedious because specific points are frequently difficult to identify at certain zoom levels. Using Structural Snaps reduces the number of mouse clicks needed to locate a specific point by providing immediate, visual feedback that identifies the pointer s location. Structural Snaps can eliminate many modeling errors caused by inexact placement of members. THE ACS In order to begin placing structural members it is necessary to establish the horizontal planes where the building floors exist. To accomplish this, an ACS, or an Auxiliary Coordinate System, is used. The ACS (Auxiliary Coordinate System) makes it very easy for designers to navigate in 3D space and know exactly where they are at all times. This is accomplished through the use of ACS Planes (which are created, saved and referenced throughout the modeling process) in conjunction with working planes. A working plane can be described as a plane that floats around, depending upon what needs to be accomplished. AccuDraw is one such plane (the visual reference for that plane being the AccuDraw compass) as it can float up, down, and www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 4 of 13 v2.0
along any axis. By using the ASC Plane Lock and ASC Plane Snap Lock, designers can draft or model locked on to the active ACS Plane with AccuDraw. There are several methods to create ACS Planes by either using the Auxiliary Coordinates dialog tool, or the Floor Manager. The Auxiliary Coordinates dialog can create Rectangular, Cylindrical, and Spherical types of Auxiliary Coordinate Systems. The Floor Manager is a tool that creates Rectangular, stacked, ACS Planes that act as Building Floors and Floor Reference Planes. Please refer to the Help Documentation for more information about how to define, set, and manipulate Auxiliary Coordinate Systems (ACS). THE FLOOR MANAGER The Floor Manager tool is used to create Rectangular, stacked, ACS Planes that look and behave like a system of floors in a building. The Floor Manager is used to: Create buildings Create and manage floor definitions Create and manage floor and sub-floor reference planes Create and manage floor groups and floor information for projects. The Floor Manager stores all this project information in a Master Floor DGN file. This file is named BB_FloorMaster.dgnlib and is located in the project dataset in the support/dataset/dgnlib folder. The Floor Manager opens when Building Designer > Floor Manager is chosen from the top menu bar. Often projects have several buildings, or wings of buildings which have different floor heights. The Floor Manager accommodates this with the Create Building Tool. Once a new building is created and selected, each building can each have its own floors and floor reference planes. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 5 of 13 v2.0
Buildings, Floors and Floor Reference Planes are created using the following tools: The Create New Building icon creates a top level container for storing floor and reference plane definitions. With focus in the text field, the name for the new building is entered to replace the default name. Building names are sorted alphabetically in the tree view. The Create New Floor icon creates a new floor entry at the top of the Floor Manager list box when selected. The new floor list box entry is an actively selected text field which displays the default name Floor 1. With focus in the text field, the name for the new floor is entered to replace the default name. A valid elevation must also be entered before focus is returned to the designer. The Create New Floor Reference Plane icon creates a new reference plane associated with the active and currently selected floor. The new reference plane list box entry is an actively selected text field which displays the default name Reference Plane 1. With focus in the text field, the name for the new reference plane is entered to replace the default name. A valid elevation must also be entered before focus is returned to the designer. Reference planes are relative to the floor with which they are associated and so are their elevations. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 6 of 13 v2.0
Structural Floors and Structural Floor Reference planes must have their Discipline set to Structural and Column Splice Floor defined as True or False in order to export for analysis correctly. The Create Typical Floors icon opens the Create Typical Floor Group dialog box where floor groups are created. The Delete Floors, Typical Floor, and Reference Planes icon deletes the selected floor, floor reference plane, or typical floor. Reference planes established within deleted floors are also deleted. Typical floors associated with deleted master typical floors are also deleted during this type of operation. Generally when typical floors are deleted, elevations for typical floors above the deleted floor are lowered to maintain a constant elevation between the remaining typical floors. The designer is also given the option to maintain previous elevation(s) for the floors above the deleted floor. Once the buildings, floors and floor reference planes are created with Floor Manager, the Floor Selector tool is used to activate the buildings, specific floors, and reference planes. All design files (3D models) in the project will automatically have this capability with the Floor Selector tool. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 7 of 13 v2.0
The Floor Selector can be opened by choosing Building Designer > Floor Selector from the top menu bar. Once opened, this dialog can be docked on the interface for easy access while working in the model. Selecting any floor or reference plane will change the active ACS to that floor s z-elevation so that any elements placed in the model will be placed at that floor elevation. In addition, the following tools can be used to select the active building and align the view with the selected floor. Set Active Building Align View with ACS Icon Locks (Ctrl+Shift+I) Icon Locks determine whether data points and snap points will be projected onto the ACS plane (locked mode) or remain at the true placement elevation (unlocked mode). Whenever a placement tool is chosen the locks will automatically be locked on. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 8 of 13 v2.0
THE INTERFACE The Building Designer tasks dialog box, by default docked on the left side of the Building Designer application window, provides all the Structural Building Designer tasks and tools in task toolboxes which organizes them into logical groups based on their specific type of use. For instance, the Structural Design task contains all the Structural Building Designer member placement and member modification tools as well as Building Designer utilities used when designing with Structural Building Designer. Similarly, Structural Building Designer s analytical and drawing features are provided in several other tasks; The Structural Import/Export task, the Data task, the Drawing Composition task and the Annotation task. Structural Building Designer provides Structural placement tools that allow the designer to place and manipulate individual intelligent steel, concrete, timber forms, and Structural assemblies such as bar joist and joist girders comprised of individual Structural members or envelope representations. These intelligent structural forms are called members. The structural members provide the link between Structural engineering data and the 3D geometric model. Structural members obtain and maintain their intelligence through to their categorization in the Part/Family system. And within that categorization is further definition, including size, material, orientation, drafting attributes, labeling, and even specific customizable notes such as paint color, cost, or manufacturer s name. The DataGroup System extends the intelligence of Structural members by managing the Part/Family data and additional Datagroup data used in processes throughout Structural Building Designer s features. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 9 of 13 v2.0
PLACE COLUMN The Place Steel column - Primary tool, found on the Structural Design task bar, is used to place steel column members in the model. Once selected the pointer changes from the standard crosshair to a crosshair combined with the shape of a steel column, attached at the column s base. Select the Catalog Type, for instance Main Column. Select a Standard Section from the library of steel shapes. Use the browse icon to open the shape library, or key in a known section size, like W8x10 Select a Placement Point, typically Center, Center for a column. Either set a Rotation Angle for the column or check Interactive to rotate on placement. Set the Place By method, typically Length at end 1 for a column, and the Length of the column. Enter a data point to place the member in the model. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 10 of 13 v2.0
PLACE BEAM The Place Steel Beam - Primary tool, found on the Structural Design task bar, is used to place steel beam members in the model. This time your pointer remains as a crosshair because Structural Building Designer is waiting for you to identify where you want to place the first point of the girder. Select the Catalog Type, for instance Beams Select a Standard Section from the library of steel shapes. Use the browse icon to open the shape library. Select a Placement Point, typically Top, Center for a beam. Set the Place By method, typically Two Points for a beam. Turn on Automatic Coping, and set the cope pull-down to Cope to member connected by AccuSnap. Set the Floor Selector to the Top of Steel elevation for the top of the beam that is being placed. Enter a data point for each end of the beam by snapping to the supporting columns. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 11 of 13 v2.0
PLACE SLAB The Place Slab tool, found on the Structural Design task bar, is used to place slab forms in the model. Select the Catalog Type, for instance Composite Slab. Select a Place From option, either Top or Bottom. Set the Place By method, Structural Members will use beams already placed in the model to define the edge of the slab. Define the Thickness of the slab. Define the Overhang from the centerline of the perimeter beam. Set the Floor Selector to the Top of Steel elevation for the bottom of the slab that is being placed. Select a beam at each corner of the slab perimeter. Reset to place slab. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 12 of 13 v2.0
MOVIE: Structural This movie shows: 1. Placing Steel Columns 2. Placing Steel Beams www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 13 of 13 v2.0